Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

I am posting this after a very long break. I have been so caught up with everything that I had absolutely no time or energy to post anything.
So anyway... after a push from a friend or two I finally got around to posting a dish. Nothing fancy but hopefully will make your tummy and taste buds happy.
I actually learnt this from my sister Nadia.. so all the credit goes to her. Hope you guys like it.

Ingredients

1. 300g - 350g spaghetti
2.1/2 kg minced beef/mutton
3. 300ml tomato paste
4. 1/4th of beef/vegetable stock cube (optional)
5. 4-5 tbs olive oil
6. 2 tbs garlic paste
7. 5 tbs onion paste
8. 2 tsp fresh ground pepper
9. 1 small size capsicum, chopped
10. 1 tsp dried basil
11. 1/2 tsp dried oregano
12. 1/4 tsp dried thyme
13. 2 1/2 cup water (around 500- 550 ml)
14. 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (or more if you like it extra cheesy)
15. 1 tsp sugar
16. salt, according to taste
17. fresh mint leaves, chopped

1. Boil water and add a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of oil in it and then add the spaghetti. Cook it according to the instructions given behind the spaghetti packet.The timings vary according to the brands.Just make sure you do not over cook the spaghetti to the point it is too soft or else they break easily or turn into mush. After it is done, reserve 1 cup of the starchy water and drain the rest. Keep the spaghetti aside.

2. In a deep non stick pan, heat the oil on a medium flame and fry the capsicum in it for 4 to 5 minutes.Then add onion paste and garlic paste. Cook it for 3 to 4 minutes and add the minced beef and fry it for sometime.  At this point you will notice that the beef starts to give out water. So cook it until you see that most of the water has evaporated.

3. Now add the tomato paste, the beef/ vegetable stock, dried oregano, dried basil, dried thyme, sugar, salt and water. (Don't add too much salt because after adding the cheese it will become more salty) Stir it, close the lid and cook it on a low flame for the next 10 to 15 minutes or until the water reduces and the sauce thickens.

4. Now add the grated cheddar cheese and let it melt into the sauce. In case you think that your sauce is less compared to your spaghetti then add some of that spaghetti water that you reserved and heat it until you get the desired consistency. If the sauce is too much then you can always heat it up a bit more until the water reduces more.

5. Check the level of salt.If you feel like there is less salt you can always go ahead and add a bit more. If the sauce is a little sour you may add a dash of sugar to it just to balance it out.

6. Add ground pepper and chopped mint leaves into the sauce. You may mix the spaghetti with the sauce or serve it separately.

Try it and let me know how it turned out!! ;)